Blog

How to Use the Lightroom Transform Tool

The post How to Use the Lightroom Transform Tool appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Erin Fitzgibbon.

Lightroom has so many great tools we all use to edit our photographs. No wonder it’s an essential editing program for just about every photographer. Let’s take a look at the Transform Tool.

The Transform Tool can be used to adjust the perspective in your images. Most know that the tool is useful for straightening horizons or fixing those pesky leaning buildings, but it can do a lot more than that. The Transform Tool can help you to adjust other types of photographs. It has a convenient application, but it can also be used to edit your images to create more dramatic looks. You can also use it to help you create interesting artistic interpretations of your shots.

I used the transform tool to help me edit this image. I made several small adjustments to align the perspective with my creative vision.

Let’s start with the individual components of the transform tool before progressing to using them in more creative ways towards the end of the article.

The Auto Function

The Transform Tool comes with an automatic option. In this case, it’s pretty simple. Push the Auto button and let Lightroom make all the adjustments to your image. For those who are unfamiliar with how to use the other features of the Transform Tool this may be the simplest option. The problem is that Auto doesn’t always do the best job of adjusting your images. I find that if the adjustment is straightforward like straightening a horizon, then auto works well. However, it has difficulty adjusting the more complex perspective issues. This is meant to be a quick and dirty type of adjustment for minor perspective issues.

Here’s an example of the Auto tool in use on Tintern Abbey.

Vertical adjustments

The Vertical Tool automatically analyzes and then adjusts the vertical lines within your photograph. This type of adjustment is particularly useful if you’re trying to fix a leaning building or leaning trees in your landscape because you’re using a wide-angle lens. At the same time, you will find that automatic fixes don’t always work correctly and that Lightroom may over-adjust the verticals and give you something that doesn’t look quite right. So this may not be your best option for using the Transform tool.

In this case, the vertical tool didn’t do a very good job of adjusting the perspective.

Level Adjustments

The Level Tool automatically adjusts your horizontal lines. This tool seems to work reasonably well for most landscape shots. Issues with the Level Tool may arise when you are working with a horizon line along with diagonal lines. Sometimes this combination of lines fools the software. Lightroom may choose to adjust the diagonal lines and skew the rest of the image. Keep this in mind when using the automatic adjustment.

I find the level tool works great for landscape images but in this case, it needs manual adjustments.

Full Adjustments

The Full Adjustment option takes into account all vertical and horizontal lines plus the features of the auto option. This particular tool doesn’t adjust my images well. It tends to overcompensate. This tool rarely creates a look I want to use for my photographs. That doesn’t mean it won’t work for you; however, be aware that it tends to be aggressive.

Some may like the adjustments that a full perspective tool creates. If you do, remember to leave a lot of room around your subject. As you can see here, the crop that needs to occur is quite severe.

The Guided Adjustment option

The Guided Tool is probably the best way to adjust perspective within your images. The problem with the other options is that Lightroom chooses which vertical and horizontal lines it uses to adjust perspective. The reality is that these may not be the lines that need adjusting. This is where the Guided Tool comes into practice. As the editor of your work, you know which lines need straightening so you can guide Lightroom to adjust the proper verticals or horizontals. It’s still a quick and easy tool to use. You are guiding Lightroom by telling it where to focus its efforts.

The tool is straightforward to use. Just choose the line you wish to adjust and then use your mouse to define the line for Lightroom. Once two lines have been selected, Lightroom automatically adjusts your image based on your guidelines.

In this case, the Guided Tool straightens the lines I highlight but the required crop is rather extreme.

The guided tool worked really well with this simple adjustment.

Using the sliders

You can always adjust your images using the Manual Sliders located below the automatic options. Sometimes it works very well to use the Guided tool and then to make minor manual adjustments to the image as well.

Just move the sliders to adjust your work for the desired look. Each slider will adjust a different aspect of the image.

Level – tilts the image and creates an angle of sorts

Vertical – adjusts the image by tilting either forwards or to the back
Rotate – twists the image on an access point (adjusting horizon lines for the most part)
Aspect – stretches the image horizontally or compresses it horizontally
Scale – allows you to zoom in closer or further out on an image
X offset – moves the image on the x-axis to the left or right.
Y offset – move the image on the y-axis up or down.

Used on their own you may find that these sliders do not achieve much. However, when used in combination and subtle amounts, you can easily adjust the sliders to obtain the perspective you see in your mind’s eye.

In this screenshot, you can see how the aspect slider works to adjust an image.

Using the Transform Tool creatively

You can use the Transform Tool to help you adjust perspective to create more drama within an image. You can also use it to completely change the perspective of an image for a creative interpretation of the subject you originally photographed.

In the case of the following image, I made the adjustments to create something that highlighted the foreground more, thus drawing the viewers eyes towards that area.

I used the vertical slider to adjust the image so the foreground plays a bigger role in the image.

Here’s the completed photograph exported from Lightroom:

Compare this to the original perspective of the shot.

In the image below the foreground plays a less important role in the image. You can use the Transform Tool to help you make creative decisions about your photographs.

This is the unedited jpeg of the file above. Consider how the change of perspective affects the visual nature of the image.

It’s a versatile tool

You can use the Transform Tool in very subtle ways to adjust perspective. It can either be used to make an image seem more realistic and more accurate to our understanding of the way the landscape looks in reality or can be used to make some more open to interpretation. Remember, there are lots of options out there when editing work.

Be creative. Give the transform tool a whirl and see what you can do with it. You may surprise yourself and create something extraordinary.

I’ve included a few more photos edited using the Transform Tool to illustrate how you can use it both functionally and creatively.

The goal was to make the foreground more important in this photograph.

My goal was to capture my friend as she took photos of the incoming waves on the beach in Borth, Wales.

The post How to Use the Lightroom Transform Tool appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Erin Fitzgibbon.

Digital Photography School

April 2, 2019

Minolta DiMAGE V hands-on review

Introduction

In the DiMAGE V, Minolta combines point-and-shoot simplicity, modular lens design, thoughtful touches such as (literally) flexible storage media and the convenience of AA battery power to create a truly compelling photographic package for photographers of all types. From landscapes to family gatherings, the DiMAGE V is up to the task to help you capture the most of your moments in stunning 0.33MP detail. Younger photographers in particular will appreciate that the lens can swivel back towards you, making selfies just as easy as they are with your smartphone.

Key specifications:

1/3 inch, 0.33MP CCD sensor
34-92mm (35mm film-format equivalent) F5-5.6 manually zoomed detachable lens
Smart Media 5v storage (approx. 32 ‘Fine’ images per 4MB card)
Zero autofocus points (manual macro engagement)
ISO range of 160 to 160
1.8″ 71.8k-dot rear screen
Powered by four AA batteries, with a battery life rating of ‘not good’

Body, handling and controls

The DiMAGE V sits comfortably in the hand, thanks to a ridge on the front of the camera and an indent for your thumb on the rear. The rotating lens does, of course, encourage two-handed operation, and the smooth action of the manual zoom lever is a joy. A small door on the bottom of the camera prevents accidental operation of the ‘Format,’ ‘Date’ and ‘Self-Timer’ options, because we all know that accidentally enabling the self-timer results in many a photographer hurling their camera into the nearest body of water in frustration.

The rear screen does an excellent job of giving you a general idea of what your photo may look like, without giving you enough detail to ruin the ‘moment of discovery’ when you load it up on (preferably) an old Trinitron CRT.


The ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons not only control exposure compensation, but also navigating images in ‘Play’ mode.	This door prevents accidental operation, and will never, ever break, just like all of these little types of doors on ’90s electronics.

Operation of the camera is as straightforward as can be. The shutter button is in a nice spot, and the plus and minus buttons on the top give you control over exposure compensation and let you scroll through your images in playback mode. The built-in flash will be especially handy for when the light starts to drop, and the camera’s 1/30 maximum shutter speed won’t quite cut it. And to keep you focused on the actual process of taking pictures, there is no provision for manually selecting exposure settings.

So, does anyone out there have a Smart Media reader compatible with older 5v cards? Asking for a friend.

Lastly, the DiMAGE V runs on easy-to-find AA batteries, a blessing as you’ll be going through quite a few of them. It uses Smart Media storage, and will only accept cards up to 4MB – this thoughtful touch keeps you from over-shooting and having far too many images to go through on your OG Pentium-powered machine.

Performance and autofocus

In terms of performance, the DiMAGE V start-up time helpfully gives you plenty of time to think about the shot you’re going to take, and whether you really do want to take it. Likewise for shot-to-shot times. This careful slowing-down of the photographic process does, of course, encourage comparisons with Leica’s lineup of digital rangefinders, though we think the DiMAGE is the more practical option for most people.

This brings us to autofocus. There isn’t any. (Also like a Leica rangefinder!)

Image quality and usability

Ah, the moment I know you’ve all been waiting for. Unfortunately, this is just a hands-on review. We weren’t able to retrieve files from our DiMAGE V, owing to the scant availability of compatible card readers, but we’ve done the next best thing – we’ve photographed the rear of the camera so you can get an idea of how effective its screen is. Once we source a card reader, we’ll update the story so you can have your own ‘moment of discovery’ and see the full, glorious 0.33MP files that you crave.

Studio scene


Daylight	Low light

As you can see, the DiMAGE looks like it’s exposing the daylight scene fairly well without having to use exposure compensation. Colors look a bit cool, but we can’t say for sure whether it’s the screen or not – and certainly, there is no provision for custom white balance, to keep things simpler for the user.

Switch over to low light, and… well, perhaps it’s best to just not to shoot in low light.

Zoom range, selfies

The DiMAGE’s zoom range is fairly flexible, ranging from 34-92mm equivalent. Though the start of its zoom range isn’t all that wide, fans of Fujifilm’s X100 series – with its fixed 35mm lens – will likely see no problem with this.


Wide-angle	Telephoto

And thanks to the unusual design of the lens, you can even use the optical zoom while taking selfies. This is going to be great for those looking to spice up their Instagram feed with some more avant-garde compositions.


Wide-angle	Telephoto

Finally, we are big fans of the exposure compensation option on the DiMAGE. It really does give you wide latitude to adjust your exposure to your liking, particularly if you’re looking for a more silhouetted look. Though it’s difficult to see on the rear screen, it did help to bring back the Seattle wheel through the windows for this shot.


Automatic metering	Negative exposure comp

The detachable lens

It does detach, and you can even then use the camera itself as an off camera flash. This is something I was really looking forward to testing, but unfortunately, connector cables from the lens to the camera are harder to find than 5v Smart Media readers.

Conclusion

So, who is the Minolta DiMAGE V for? Well, while it’s tempting to say it’s great for anyone with fifty bucks and an eBay account, you may actually spend more money on and have a harder time finding the requisite memory card reader. But that said, we have to say we find the concept to be a bit of fresh air, even in 2019. There’s no denying that cameras these days are ludicrously more capable and more responsive, but designs are nowhere near as neat as some cameras seen in the early days of digital imaging. Today, the DiMAGE remains a fun-to-use novelty thanks to the detachable / swiveling lens design.

And later in the week, we promise we’ll get back to some reviews of, well, modern cameras.

Happy April Fool’s day, and H/T to our newest developer for generously loaning me his first ever digital camera.

Editor’s note – an earlier version of this article claimed incorrectly that the DiMAGE V has 3.3MP of resolution. It actually has 0.33MP – we regret the error.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

April 2, 2019

Prism Lens FX launches three lens filters with built-in prism and flare effects

Prism Lens FX has launched a new line of lens filters that have built-in prism effects. The Variable Prism Filters are being sold as a three-filter bundle and individually with three different filter options: Prism, Chromatic Flare, and Split Glass. Each product is offered as a 77mm rotating filter alongside an optional 82mm to 77mm step down ring.

The Variable Prism Filters offer unique effects without the need to hold items in front of the lens. All three products are recommended for use with 50mm or greater telephoto lenses and a 1.4 / 2 / 2.8 aperture. The Prism filter is designed to add bokeh and flares to images, while the Chromatic Flare filter adds streak / anamorphic flares and the Split filter adds fractal / light leak effects. Below is a gallery of sample images captured with the filters:

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_8301677427″,”galleryId”:”8301677427″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

Preorders are now available with each filter priced at $ 75 and the three-filter bundle at $ 195. Shipments are expected to start in mid to late April.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

April 2, 2019
Video: This $100 projector lens has beautiful bokeh and is perfect for portraits

Photographer and YouTuber Mathieu Stern is no stranger to finding and adapting unusual lenses, but his latest find might just be the best projector lens he’s ever come across.

The Isco MC 65mm F2 lens, which can be found for around $ 100 on eBay, is an old projector lens that was used for 35m cinema projectors. As with most previous projector lenses Stern has adapted, there was no official way to adapt it to a modern lens mount. So, Stern got creative and used a little bit of rubber from a bike inner tube along with the barrel of an Helios 44 lens to create a worthwhile body for the adapted lens. From there, Stern used a proper adapter to give the lens infinity focus and it was ready to roll.

Surprisingly, the lens produces impressive results in both photos and video, despite its limitation of being permanently stuck at F2 due to the lack of an aperture diaphragm. In the center, it appears to be sharp, but it does get soft quickly towards the edges. Colors render beautifully and the bokeh looks both distinct and pleasing.

Sure, it might not have the best resolution, but it certainly has a distinct look and considering it only costs $ 100, a few spare parts and a little elbow grease, it’s relatively cheap. To see more unusual lenses from Stern’s collection, head over to his Weird Lenses Museum.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

April 2, 2019
Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash
The post Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

The making of one of my most successful shots started with a little photo play on a hot summer day, and a try at some high-speed splash photography.

The image above, “Red Bell Splashdown,” went on to win first place in the Corel International Food Photography Contest.

Let’s take a look at the “making of” methods used to create the shot so that you too can have fun with this quite simple technique.

Freezing motion

There are essentially two ways to freeze motion with a camera:
1. Use a Fast Shutter Speed such that the “sliver of time” you are capturing is very short and the object being captured moves very little, if at all, during the extremely short duration the shutter is open, or
2. Use the very Short Duration of a Flash so that the object you are photographing gets illuminated for a very small sliver of time. The duration time of an electronic flash can be extremely short. For example, a Speedlight like the Canon 580EXII at 1/128 power is less than 1/19,000th of a second!
I’ve used the flash method, and indeed it can produce some dramatic results. I will perhaps show that process and the results in a future article. For my splash photos, however, I wanted to keep it simple and do it outdoors where water splashes wouldn’t require any clean-up or endanger my photo gear. When I did these shots, I was using my Canon 50D which has a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second. I figured this should be enough to get the job done.

Let the sun shine in

Obviously, getting a proper exposure with a very high shutter speed would involve several possibilities:
1. Use a fast lens with a wide aperture – I was shooting with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, so a wide aperture was possible. However, I still needed a decent depth of field, so opening it up all the way wasn’t a good option.
2. Use a high ISO – Cranking up the ISO can aid in getting a fast shutter speed but at the penalty of more image noise. I didn’t want that if I could avoid it.
3. Shoot in very bright light. Normally, shooting under mid-day summer sun would not be something a photographer would do, but in this case, blazing sunlight (and lots of it) was the perfect solution.
The set-up

I wanted to use colorful subjects for the shoot. Bell peppers – easily found at the supermarket in red, yellow and green – seemed a good choice. I also picked up some other colorful fruits – strawberries and limes. To accommodate the size of the objects and also give me a flat glass “window” to shoot through, a 10-gallon aquarium was just right.

Wanting to get light not just from above but from below as well, I put a large 5-in-1 reflector on the table where I wanted to shoot, silver side up. I placed the aquarium on top of that out in the bright noon sun. I filled the tank with water about halfway and allowed the bubbles to settle out while I set up the rest of the equipment.

I put a pepper in the water and let it float while I took a look through the camera to frame the shot. I could see I would need a plain and preferably dark background, so I put a piece of black paper behind the tank. The paper was still too bright with the direct sun on it, so I used another reflector, black side down, at the back to the tank to shade the paper backdrop. I had my camera on a tripod and moved it to get as much of the front of the tank in the frame as I could, being sure I could focus that close.

To be able to drop my subjects into the tank and also trigger the shutter, I rigged up a Youngnuo RF-602C radio trigger so that I’d be able to fire the camera remotely. A wired remote with a long enough cord could have also worked.

Camera settings

I put the camera in Manual Mode. To get a good combination of the fast shutter speed needed, decent depth of field, and not too high an ISO, I found that shooting at ISO 400, F/6.3 and the key – fast shutter speeds between 1/2000 and 1/3200th of a second was about right. Letting a pepper float in the tank where I anticipated it to be when dropped, I set the focus and then locked it in manual. I also put the shutter in high-speed continuous mode so for each drop I’d get a burst of about 5 shots.

Splash-down!

So, good to go, I dropped the peppers, strawberries, and limes, trying to fire the bursts in synchronization with my drops. My wife Kathy came out to join in the fun and did some of the drops. We quickly found it was necessary to squeegee and wipe the front of the glass between shots to clean the drops off the front of the glass from the previous shot. So it went: drop, shoot, squeegee and repeat. For each drop, one frame of the 5-shot burst might be good, but often not. Timing is crucial. With practice, while we gained some skill, luck was still a huge element. There was lots of shooting to get the keepers. We tried it with the peppers and fruits in different combinations too. I easily made over 200 shots that afternoon.

Cleaning up your act!

Straight out of the camera, the raw shots were less than impressive. Of course, Raw files look flat, and so I knew they’d improve greatly with a basic Raw edit. There were also more drops, splashes, bubbles and other particles in the water than I wanted. However, the important thing – the action – was properly frozen and sharp!

My Red Bell Splashdown image used settings of ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/3200th sec. The rest was using editing tools to adjust the exposure, get good rich color and deep blacks, and eliminate distractions. My editing tool of choice is usually Adobe Lightroom. With the Adjustment Brush and the Spot Removal Tool, I was able to clean up the image to create the impact I was after.

Other considerations and possibilities

With any photo shoot, it’s always a good idea to critique your work and consider, “What might I have done better? Differently? What variations might I want to try?”

Seeing I had used a shutter speed of 1/3200th for my splash shots, I was curious how much difference there might be at the maximum shutter speed of my Canon 50D which is 1/8000th. I didn’t want to set up the fish tank and all of that for this second experiment, so I tried something simpler.

This time, I poured liquid into glasses in the bright summer sun. This process was simple enough. I clamped the glasses in a stand, put up a black backdrop behind them, set up the camera in a similar fashion to the previous splash shots, and did the pours. This time my settings were ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/8000th of a second.

When checking the shots afterward, it was apparent that the freezing effect was even more pronounced. However, at such a wide aperture, my depth of field was much more shallow.

What might I try next time?

I’d like to give different color backgrounds a try. Using black made editing much easier, and when cleaning up the shots, it was simple to “black out” any distracting elements. I’m not so sure that would be as easily achieved with a color background. Trying it with a white background for a high-key look might also look interesting.

Of course, using different objects for the splash photos is also fun. In fact, we did do that when during the splash photo session my Mini-Schnauzer, Schatzi, wanted to play and decided to bring us her favorite ball. Looking at the “face” on the ball, I thought it might be fun to try it in a splash drop as we’d done with the peppers. When seeing the result – which looked like the “creature” was exhaling bubbles during a dive – it made me laugh.

So, give this high-speed shutter technique a try. Take it outside in the bright sun, crank up the shutter speed as high as you can and have some fun. It’s a great way to improve your camera skills, learn the relationships between ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed, and then test your editing skills when tuning up your shots. I’m confident you’ll get some images of which you’ll be proud.

The post Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

Digital Photography School
April 2, 2019
Ricoh says it will repair GR III cameras affected by a wobbly control dial, scroll wheel
Ricoh Korea and Japan have issued a statement regarding an issue with select Ricoh GR III cameras that caused the control dial of the camera jiggles more than it should, as seen in the above video shared by Photo Rumors. Following an investigation of the issue, Ricoh says it will fix affected devices free of charge and notes that the movement of the controls does not interfere with the functionality of the camera.

The translated statement says ‘The basic specification is to set a slight rotation allowance width, but as a result of investigation, it has been found that some products with the following target serial numbers have combinations with large display inclinations.’

In more clear terms (you made a valiant effort Google Translate), Ricoh anticipated a slight bit of movement, but the affected cameras show far more movement than should be happening and as a result the affected cameras will be fixed. Below are the serial number ranges Ricoh references:
- 0010046 – 0022290
- 2010043 – 2012044
- 3010045 – 3010544
- 4010041 – 4010230
The statement says Ricoh will start processing repairs for affected devices on April 8, 2019. DPReview was informed by a Ricoh spokesperson that Ricoh USA and UK will be issuing a statement tomorrow regarding the issue and the subsequent steps needed to repair affected cameras. We will update the article with that statement when we receive it.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
April 2, 2019
Fujifilm Camera Remote app for iOS gets new UI, additional camera support and more
Fujifilm has released version 4.0 of its Fujifilm Camera Remote iOS app and announced the Android version will be available May 2019.

The update, which was originally announced back in February, features a new interface as well as a number of new features that makes it easier to control settings and capture images remotely with wireless-equipped Fujifilm cameras.

Fujifilm has changed the interface of the app to better use the additional screen real estate of newer iOS devices and has changed the icons and buttons throughout the app to create a more streamlined look. The pairing process is now easier with the updated app and Fujifilm has added an ‘Album’ function that makes it easy to browse through photos and videos that have been imported from the camera. Overall stability of the app and wireless connection has been improved with this update and additional camera support has been added as well.

Fujifilm lists the following features in the app’s description:
1. Transferring images and movies to a Smartphone
2. Browsing the Camera from a Smartphone
3. Downloading Location Data from a Smartphone
4. Shooting Images by Remote Control(*)
5. Easily transfer pictures from the cameras that offers Bluetooth capability.
6. Synchronizing “date and time” and/or “location information” with the cameras that offers Bluetooth capability
7. Firmware update via a Smartphone to the cameras that offers Bluetooth capability.
8. Bluetooth wireless remote control camera shutter release is now supported for cameras that offers Bluetooth capability.
  *How to change the setting depends on your camera.
Fujifilm’s X-T30, GFX 50R, X-T3, XF10, X-H1 and X-E3 cameras support all of the above features while the FinePix XP140 supports all but number seven. The X-T100, X-A5 and FinePix XP130 support features one through six and the GFX 50S, X-T20, X100F, X-A10, X-A3, X-T2, X-Pro2, X-E2S, X70, X-T10, X-T1, X30, X100T, X-E2, FinePix XP120, FinePix XP90, FinePix XP80, FinePix S9900W and FinePix S9950W support features one through four. Wrapping up, the X-E2, XQ2, XQ1, X-A2, X-A1, X-M1 and FinePix Z1100EXR support features one through three while the FinePix Z1000EXR only supports the transfer of images and movies.

Fujifilm Camera Remote version 4.0 works with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices running iOS 10 or later. Geotagging functionality only works with iOS devices equipped with LTE connectivity.

You can download the app for free in the iOS App Store. For more information on the app and update, head over to Fujifilm’s documentation page.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
April 1, 2019
So You Have No Model? Here are Ways to Practice Your Portrait Lighting With Toys
The post So You Have No Model? Here are Ways to Practice Your Portrait Lighting With Toys appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

Portrait lighting can be tricky to learn.

After reading articles and watching tutorials about light, you’ll excitedly look for a person to practice on. Although, once you finally have a person in front of your camera your mind goes blank and nothing is as easy as those tutorials made it seem. You forget all that information you’ve been overloaded with and feel foolish in front of your ‘model.’ Worst case scenario, you’ll become discouraged and give up.

Superman was always my favorite.

But there is a way to practice basic portrait lighting techniques and build your confidence before photographing people. You can practice portrait lighting with toys until you feel comfortable enough to experiment with people.

You’ll learn how to position your subject and light source without the stress of working with a real person.

Once you understand the basic principles of portrait lighting your confidence will grow and you can keep learning new techniques and refining your skills.

Also, who doesn’t want an excuse to play with toys again?

Choosing the right toy

Choose a toy with a human figure so that what you learn can transfer easily when you photograph real people. Try to find one with pronounced facial features so that there will be realistic shadows created.

Your toy should have some texture too. This is important because it helps you to see how the light affects your subject. As light skims across a textured surface, it will create highlights and shadows, which will help your portrait to pop. Everybody who sits in front of your camera will be textured (hair, skin, and clothes).

This Superman toy has lots of texture and muscular looking features. His face has pronounced features that mimic a real person’s face.

Using a flashlight (hard light source)

Quality of light refers to the hardness or softness of the light.

A general rule is that the smaller the light source, the harder the light will be. This means that there will be deep, crisp shadows. The larger the light source, the softer the light will be. The difference between the shadows and highlights will be much less intense.

I’ll begin by using a flashlight as a hard light source. The basic lighting patterns will be easier to see with hard light.

In each of these sample photos, we’ll focus on the direction of light and what happens as we move the light around.
- Front
- Rembrandt
- Side/split
- Edge
- Back/silhouette
- Uplighting
I kept my Superman figure in one place and simply moved the light around it.

The first image is the lighting set up and the second image is the portrait.

Front light

The light is placed directly in front of your subject. It’s a little higher than his eye level.

You can see that he is evenly lit with a crisp shadow under his neck created by his jawline.

Rembrandt light

This is a classic lighting pattern named after the painter, Rembrandt. Reposition the light so that it hits your subject on a 45-degree angle. It’s still a little above eye level.

The left side of his face becomes shadowy, but there is a triangle of light under his eye.

Side light/Split light

The light has now been positioned directly beside him.

The light now only illuminates one side of him. His face is split between shadow and highlight.

Edge light

Swing the light around so that it shines over his shoulder.

The only light that we can see now is the edge of his face, shoulder, and arm.

Backlight

Put the light right behind your subject.

This is similar to the edge light effect except that the light is directly behind him now. If the light source were larger (perhaps a sunset sky) there would be more of a silhouette effect. But the dark background has created a very mysterious look for this low key portrait.

This is the exact same lighting situation except that I increased my ISO to make a brighter exposure.

Uplight

To achieve this dramatic looking portrait I placed the light at his feet and shone it up toward his face. Uplighting is sometimes referred to as ‘monster lighting.’

Using a window (soft light source)

Now that we’ve seen how light can be used with a harsh source, let’s look at the same techniques with more subtle soft lighting.

In this case, we can’t move our light source, so we’ll have to move the subject in relation to the window.

We’ll cover:
- Front
- Rembrandt
- Side/split
- Edge
- Back/silhouette
Front light

The window is right behind me, shining directly on Superman.

Rembrandt light

The window is beside him, but notice that I place him back from the window a bit.

The right side of his face becomes shadowy except for that triangular patch of light under his eye.

Side light

I’ve now moved him forward so that the window is directly beside him.

The light splits his face and body into a highlight on one side and shadow on the other.

Edge light

You can see the window behind him on the left side of the photo. It’s behind him but off to the side so that it illuminates the edge of his head, shoulder, and arm.

Backlight/silhouette

The window is directly behind him. Because it is such a large, bright light source the portrait has become a silhouette.

Creative

Because I wasn’t working with a real person, I felt comfortable experimenting with some creative lighting. The more I relaxed and the longer I practiced, the more I began to notice interesting lighting situations.

The glare on the table acted as a backlight source, creating a silhouette. The light from the window became an edge light source, tracing his upper body and making it stand out from the dark background.

This is the window edge light photo from above. I cropped the window out and used a radial filter in Lightroom to make that subtle burst of warm light in the top left corner of the photo.

Two light sources

Let’s look at a three-step progression from one light to two.

The glare on the desk is from a window in the background. It’s a backlight source that has created a silhouette.

I decided to set up my flashlight again to add some light on his face.

Finally, I turned his body more toward the flashlight to illuminate his chest but turned his face back toward the camera to create a split light effect across his face.

More advanced

The leap from practicing with toys to photographing real people may still be a little uncomfortable, but at least you’ll have some success behind you. Just focus on one thing at a time. Use a window to make a soft Rembrandt light portrait of a friend. Or try a dramatic split light photo using off-camera flash.

Once you feel comfortable with the basic lighting techniques we’ve covered you can practice these more advanced techniques using real people:
- Clamshell
- Butterfly, loop, Rembrandt
- 1, 2, 3, or 4 lights
And when you’re seriously ready to go pro with your lighting you’ll need to read, How to Create Awesome Portrait Lighting with a Paper Bag an Elastic Band and a Chocolate Donut.

The post So You Have No Model? Here are Ways to Practice Your Portrait Lighting With Toys appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

Digital Photography School
April 1, 2019
Video: ‘Process’ shares the thoughtful, methodical work of analogue photography

Director Will Campbell has shared Process, a three-minute short film that dives into the passionate work of Scott Folsom, a photographer Campbell says possess ‘a deep well of wisdom and knowledge when it comes to large format, analog photography and development processes.’

Throughout the video, we get an abstracted behind-the-scenes look at how Folsom goes about capturing and processing his slow, methodical work. It’s worth noting that despite the emphasis on large format photography in both the description and title of the film, this particular video shows Folsom is using a 612 panorama back on the rear of a 4×5 view camera.

‘The modern digital camera allows us to easily shoot hundreds of frames, edit them, and upload our favorites to the internet within minutes,’ says Campbell in the video’s description. ‘This is a very different experience to that of the large format photographer. For them the process is arduous, analog and anything but instant.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

April 1, 2019
5 Different Approaches to Taking Photos of Strangers

The post 5 Different Approaches to Taking Photos of Strangers appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nils Heininger.

As travel photographers, documentary photographers or photojournalists, we all share the same unique challenge: Building up a relationship with our subjects from scratch. Commercial and wedding photographers also need to create closeness to their subjects, but they usually have a foundation that connects them. Models are usually paid to cooperate. Customers of wedding photographers want good images themselves. This is a foundation on which photographers can build their relationships. Our challenge is different – we enter a new environment and have nothing but our camera and ourselves.

When we find ourselves in a special environment in a different culture and amongst strangers, we have to find strategies to approach them. A great portrait exists not only through light and composition but also the emotional connection between the photographer and photographed.

If as a photographer you don’t feel comfortable shooting a situation, it influences the quality of your images negatively. Also considering moral aspects, it is always better to connect with people and be sure they appreciate (or at least tolerate) you taking their pictures.

We (almost) all struggle with approaching strangers. Even Steve McCurry admitted he is often shy and feels awkward when he takes pictures. However, the good news is, there are strategies to make the best out of the situation and subsequently create more possibilities for good images. Here, I share my best strategies to get closer to people and come home with more good portraits.

1. Ask and shoot

The first strategy is quite simple, yet often a challenge – just go and ask. How many times did you not have the courage to approach a stranger and ask for taking an image? And how many times did you regret it? If you are like me, then far too many. The more you approach people, the more you will realize most of them are happy to have their picure taken and might even see it as a compliment.

But, what if they say no? What does it matter if they reject you? So what? There are billions of other people out there. Fear is generally one of the biggest barriers to getting good pictures.

You have to overcome it.

One of the best ways to do so is to go out and practice. You will be surprised how many people pose for you if you approach them the right way.

Stay confident, do your thing and do it well.

The challenge with this strategy is to stay calm. When I started out, I found my images composed weakly or a little soft because I tried to get it done as quickly as possible. My hand was perhaps too shaky, and I rushed through the process without considering the right camera settings.

Later, I realized it is not necessary to be in such a hurry. Yes, you should not take too much time from people. However, if you become too nervous and ruin the moment, all the time is spent for nothing.

Be aware of what you do and how you do it. Stay calm and confident then you will succeed more easily. People appreciate it most if they see that you act professional and portray them in a good light.

2. Be patient and drink tea

As I find myself mostly in South Asia, drinking tea is an activity to socialize and get into contact with people. In other areas, you might replace it with coffee, maté or beer. Be mindful to the fact that taking pictures of people is not just hitting the shutter button. If it were that easy, we would not have all those amazing professionals who still stand out with their images of people. Each of these pictures involved much work behind or beside the camera.

Most of the photographers who accurately capture the culture and atmosphere of a place through a local person have spent a lot of time choosing the person and building a relationship. While you can run through the streets and click away thousands of images of everyone, you may want to spend your time more efficiently. Stay calm and invest some time into building a network. Go to places where the people you want to take portraits of hang out. Socialize and take your camera out when it is time to do so.

3. Find a fixer

If you have found the right people and still could not get into contact, sometimes it is useful to find a fixer. Fixers are people who arrange access to a story for a photographer, videographer or journalist. Mostly, they belong to the area and act as a mediator between the professional and the people.

Fixers can also help with translating, and they know a lot about the covered issue themselves and have an idea of what you are looking for. While fixers usually get paid in the case of professional journalism, you can also find guides, community members or other locals who can help you out. Sometimes this happens while you are drinking tea, sometimes it is enough to walk aimlessly through a street in a strange neighborhood.

Find the people, who look like they could help you. Often, locals are happy to share their stories. Introduce yourself and show that you don’t mean any harm.

For example, I wanted to cover the life of a fisherman in Puri, India but I did not know anyone at the place I was visiting. When I arrived, I quickly found a boy who could introduce me to the community while I was wandering around an area where you usually do not find too many tourists. The young man asked me what I was doing, and we talked. I did not even have to find someone who connected me. The person found me within a few minutes!

Even though he was not a fisherman himself, he was very helpful in giving me information about the community and connecting me to others. After a while, people got used to me. Even though the boy himself could not arrange a boat ride for me, I was able to connect to others. One morning, I finally found myself out on the sea with some fishermen.

4. Visit a festival or event

Special events or festivals are a great opportunity to capture the culture of a place and to get to know people. Festivals offer the opportunity to take pictures of important moments. Often, you will also be asked by people if you could send the images to them. Be helpful and share what you have. My experience is that everything you share will be paid back in multiple amounts. When I photographed the wild dances of the Dervishes at a Sufi Shrine in Pakistan, one of the performers asked me to send the images to him. As I became acquainted with him, I could stand in the first row during the next week’s event. Once connected to the people, they made sure that I could capture some great images.

Often, it might be tempting to push your limits for getting the image. Always be aware of what is allowed and appreciated during certain events. Some people might not want their images captured, or you might disturb a significant moment (DSLR users will know the curse of the loud shutter noise). I have a rule of thumb for these situations – when I have an awkward feeling in my tummy or get more attention than the actual event, I’d prefer to ask someone if I should step back.

Imagine a photographer placing his camera right in front of your face before the kiss at your wedding. You cannot even see the bride properly. That would totally kill the moment. At unknown events and rituals, you have to be aware of what is going on around you.

As a bad-mannered photographer, you can also ruin the name of a whole community of professionals and hobbyists. Always be kind and considerate. Others might also want to shoot wherever you have participated. If you behaved in a bad way, they may not get permission anymore. In the most extreme cases, you can even put yourself in danger if you unintendedly cross a line. Get your image but try to not focus the attention on yourself. For you, a certain event might be an opportunity for photographs. For others, it might be a very important day in their life.

5. Make a project and be open about it

Approach a community and openly tell them that you want to photograph their everyday life. On the first day leave your camera at home and introduce yourself to the people.

While this may be frustrating (because you will undoubtedly see opportunities you could capture), remain patient. Drink tea, talk and explain what you want to do and why. In this way, people get to know you and your intentions. You also get a better idea of what to capture and how.

When I took photos in a slum, people were suspicious because NGOs go in and out taking images of poverty. I explained that I want to take images of normal life and portray them as normal human beings, which I knew they were. The results were less staged images of their everyday life, which they appreciated.

In such a project, you can even give something back to people.

Print some images and hand them over to the community. You may be surprised at just how happy that makes people. Moreover, you may also find that people who did not want their photograph taken before will approach you to take their images too. It’s small gestures like these that keep you welcome in an area.

Long term projects may not cover a large variety of places and people, but they can cover a deeper insight into a community and connect the audience to the subject.

You don’t have to make your project too big. It all depends on your capabilities. There are many small ones which you can pursue within a week or even a day.

Developing a project does not only open gates for you but also gets you out and enhances your creativity. Shooting with a concept in mind can make you feel less awkward when out on the streets. It may also help you explain to people why you would love to take their image.

In a nutshell

Invest time in your photography as it is more than just hitting the shutter button.

Commercial and wedding photographers need to invest time to set up a team and develop ideas for clients, and landscape photographers have to hike, look for the weather and the sun. Photographing strangers also takes some preparation, even if it is just mental preparation to get over the fear of approach.

However, be patient and wait for the right moment. Do not get frustrated if you don’t get a five-star image every time. Make connections and enjoy the experience too.

What are your best ways to approach strangers? Do you have similar anxieties of just talking to them? How do you get over this? Sharing troubles and advice can help us support each other. Feel free to share your story in the comments.

The post 5 Different Approaches to Taking Photos of Strangers appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nils Heininger.

Digital Photography School

April 1, 2019